New Head-Fier

Joined:
Feb 25, 2017

Posts:
12

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While I didn't get too much listening time because I arrived late, I still enjoyed listening to the black widow + hd800s rig that belonged to @sheldaze and gsx mk2+utopia. Would love to arrive earlier next time and spend more time listening to these amazing combos. Also looking forward to demoing the ether electrostats and the new electrostatic amp by urban hifi in the future.
One interesting thing was it seems like the utopias are extremely popular around the area. I would say at least half the people who brought their gears had a utopia lol. Maybe we can do a utopia shootout to see if there are indeed discrepancies between the earlier runs and later runs, or whatever the rumor is right now.

Headphoneus Supremus

I'm sorry to have missed the meet. @sheldaze... Thank you for posting the pictures. I'm guessing that those are your new AEONs in that first picture.

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Yes!

Did not notice the lack of certain pictures and odd angles until after I posted. Those are indeed the new AEon. Kudos to Dan for getting these cross-country in a jiffy.
Now I'm going to take my time burning in over the next few months...no need to do a mass burn, as I did for EL-8. These sound good to me from the start. So I plan to enjoy the slow tactic of listening to burn in.

I am happy that I was kinda helpful by convincing @TimeLord on the benefits of modifying the Singxer SU-1 to be powered by an external linear power supply such as Uptone Ultracap LPS-1. Side-by-side comparison of the two SU-1s helped.

We also compared Holo Spring L3 KTE that I have with Denafrips Ares that @willsw brought. For the price, Ares is definitely no slouch!

Thanks @sheldaze for putting this together and look forward to future meet ups.

100+ Head-Fier

Kudos to @sheldaze for an excellent meet. The venue was great for a small meet.

My thoughts in no particular order. All my opinion. Take with a grain of salt. Your mileage may vary... and all the other warnings:

The hybrids that LTA brought: I'm not a fan. The mids and bass sounded overly warm and the treble overly sharp. Both sounded similar

Beyer Amiron: Simiarly to above, there was a discrepancy between the character of the treble and mids/bass, but it was nowhere near as pronounced. It's warm/smooth, but not dark in the mids and bass, with a bit of punch and speed. The treble has a touch of the beyer house sound, but no more than a touch. The overall sound was actually quite good. Comfort and build is awesome, but it's a beyer, so you can expect that.

LCD-2: Just as good as the ones I heard last meet: Warm, intimate, and punch, but relaxed when need be. I love them. To quote myself: "Deep, hard-hitting bass. Warm mids and treble with a lot of detail, but I don't think quite as much as the HD800. The timbre is spot on IMO, and the overall sound is relaxed. Intimate, but well-formed soundstage."

Utopia: The resolution is amazing. The rendition of textures is perfect. Listen to Elton John's Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding (yes, it is 11 mins), or Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms (the track) and you will understand. Strings were also rendered very well. Very quick and punchy. A slightly thin/bright presentation They are not very forgiving, either, so badly recorded music can be a bit hard to listen to. They are very good overall, but I don't think I could justify spending 4k on them, particularly considering the amount of imperfectly recorded music I listen to.

Fostex (thx00?): Woa, that's a large soundstage from a closed pair of cans. A touch bass-heavy, with a very slightly recessed midrange; fun with no sacrifice to resolution. Good for rocking out. I didn't spend a ton of time with them, so I didn't get a great idea of their sound.

Final Audio Sonorous VI: Crisp is the word that comes to mind. Like an LCD-2, but brighter and crisper. Very nice sound, but comfort is not perfect. The headband adjustment bits slide as you wear it. I think I only used it with my DIY OTL amp, so I'm sure it wasn't a good pairing (8 ohm dual driver headphones and an amp with a ~120 ohm output impedance)

LCD-XC: From the ZOTL, fairly similar to the LCD-2, but warmer. A bit too warm for me. I put them down before making any more detailed conclusions.

ZMF Atticus or Eikon, I'm not sure which: Warm, fluid and organic, not quite as warm as the LCD-XC, but I still found them a bit too warm from the ZOTL.

Ether (non-flow): Pure neutral. I prefer the touch of warmth from the LCD-2, but if neutral is your thing, these are your cans.

1000+ Head-Fier

I am happy that I was kinda helpful by convincing @TimeLord on the benefits of modifying the Singxer SU-1 to be powered by an external linear power supply such as Uptone Ultracap LPS-1. Side-by-side comparison of the two SU-1s helped.
ups.

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What was the general consensus you two concluded when hearing it side by side?

100+ Head-Fier

Getting into the thread a little late, but I really enjoyed this meet. Quiet and low key. Was easier to talk to the attendees and do critical listening than the April meet, which was a little too noisy/busy for me. I really want to pick up a Liquid Carbon at some point.

Member of the Trade: Music to My Ear

Man I realized I missed this meet by a week... I stayed in Arlington too when I was in D.C.! It looks like you guys had some serious gear there as well. I prefer the smaller meets compared to big busy ones. There may be more gear but the trade off is you usually have to turn it up louder. Anyways good stuff!

100+ Head-Fier

Thanks Sheldaze for putting the meet together! I really enjoyed the Black Widow. I had no idea it would sound so clear. My expectations were that it would be warm w/o that much clarity. Since the Black widow is retired I'm really looking forward to hearing the new Audio Guild 535.

Headphoneus Supremus

A little off topic, does anyone know when the next planned meet will be? I had a great time at this last one and want to make sure I'm back for the next!

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Looking towards mid-August, but nothing is definite as yet. The "big" thing is it is likely to involve sponsorship from Schiit. If you've been following the Schiit threads, there was discussion of a Schiit "kit" to include all (but Yggy and Rag) of their headphone products. We hope to have this available, but it is time-specific. Definitely recommend you keep an eye on this thread: